NEW DELHI: In a freak accident at sea, a Naval officer died on Monday morning when he slipped into the water as he came out with some members of the crew to fix a technical snag of a Navy submarine.
Lieutenant Commander Firdaus D Mughal, executive officer of INS Shankush, a Shishumar class submarine of the Indian Navy, was overseeing repair work of the submarine, which was out in sea on a mission off Mumbai coast, when the accident occurred.
Naval sources said there was some problem in the submarine’s fin which needed urgent repairs. The submarine was brought to the surface and 3-4 crew members came out to carry out the repairs. The sea was extremely rough and Firdaus, who was overseeing the repair, slipped and fell into the sea. He was recovered and a helicopter was requested from the naval base at Mumbai. Firdaus, along with five officers and sailors were brought back to shore. But Firdaus could not survive as his head hit a hard submarine surface.